Falcons Close With Home Win, Finish #5

BG beat Ball State last night and finished 5th in the MAC.  The Falcons were picked 8th and with the new guys and the new staff, this was a favorable result.  In the 22 years since WVU, this is only our 8th winning record in MAC play.

The Falcons will play CMU at 1:30 on Thursday.  This is a much more favorable matchup than one of the top 3...BG took CMU to overtime twice and you have to believe we have a shot in this one.  And some motivation?

The sobering news of the night was senior night.  Jason Spurgin, Trey Thomas, DJ Phillips, Rashaun Agee and Sam Towns each were honored, received their commemorative framed jersey, etc. 

That's sobering because, with the exception of Phillips, all of these guys have eligibility remaining.

This is a space to watch.  We've had guys go through senior day and decide to return, and that's always a possibility. As far as that goes, anyone on the roster could leave.  BG has two players signed...Preston Squire and Jaxon Pardon.

On the bigger picture, this is the world we live in now.  Last season, of the 15 players on the All-MAC team, only 2 returned.  Eight were out of eligibility and the remainder transferred.

Last year, we had to recruit ten new guys...this year, maybe five or more.  Every one of those guys played significant minutes.

The actual game was a solid performance for BG.  Coach says guys are healthy again, the energy is back, and the shot making is coming back.

BG led by 9 at the half and had the lead up to 12 with 10 minutes left to play in the game.

Ball State played hard, cut the lead to 3 with about 7 left and to 1 with 4:29 left.  

What happened next is what makes basketball such a great sport.  With 4 left, Hill was under pressure and found Humphrey, who nailed a 3FG dagger and was fouled.  Missed the FT, but BG up 4.  BSU threw the ball away on the fast break, BG came up and--after replay--it was determined the Jihad had flagrantly fouled Spurgin.

Jason hit both FTs and then on the possession took an absolute dime from Hill and nailed the 3FG, giving BG a 9-point lead.  Two possessions, less than one minute, and the game went from in the balance to over.  Humphrey nailed another key 3FG with 1:15 left.

BG led for 36 minutes of the game, which is a good sign you are on the right track.  They outshot BSU, and only were -2 at the line after making 15 of 18.

So, onto Cleveland we go.  Proud of our guys. It has been a very good season.  See everyone in Cleveland.

This is it. It's the last game (MBB)

 So, here we go.  The last game of the regular season....hard to believe, seems like yesterday we were tracking whether the Bewley twins were going to play.

If BG wins and Miami loses, the Falcons finish 5th.

If BG wins and Miami wins, then it depends on who wins the #1 spot.  If it is UT, than BG is 5th.  If it is UA, then Miami is #5.  UT wins the tiebreaker over Akron.  Also applies to a two-way tie at 9-9 with BG and Miami.

If BG, Miami and Kent tie at 9-9, BG is 6th.

If BG, Miami, and WMU tie at 9-9, BG is 5th.

If BG, Kent and WMU tie at 9-9, BG is 6th.

If BG, Kent, Miami and WMU tie at 9-9, BG is 6th.

At 5th, BG plays CMU.  At 6th it is OU.

The opponent is Ball State, who are trying to get into the tournament.

BG and Ball State played earlier this year, with the Falcons picking up the road win.  The Falcons had a multi-possession lead for the last 8 minutes of the game.  Ball State got the lead to 4 with 3 minutes left, but BG blasted the lead back out again and won by 9.

It was BG's best shooting game of the MAC season.  They made 53% on 2G and 50% on 3FGs.  They had an OK day with turnovers but was great on the offensive boards. BG was 15 of 20 at the line, but -3 for the game.  BG had 1.21 points per possession, their second best MAC game.  Ball State had 1.08.

Hill had 28 in his best offensive game of the season. He was 11 of 16 from 2FG and 2-2 from 3FG. Spurgin had 17 and 7, Agee had 14 and 10.

Ball State leads the MAC in getting to the line, FT% and the percentage of points coming from FTs. Beyond that they are average in FG shooting and turnovers, and slightly less than average on the offensive boards. They are #5 with the 3FG.

On defense, they are pretty much average across the board, although they are #3 in keeping their opponents off the line.  They are somewhat vulnerable to the 2FG.

They are led by Basheer Jihad, who is #4 in the MAC in scoring. He makes 40% on 3FGs. He also leads the team with 8.4 RPG, which is #3 in the MAC.  He's clearly first-team material. 

Jalin Anderson scores 15 PPG and is #4 in the MAC in assists, Davion Bailey and Mickey Pearson score 13 PPG. 

They have 4 MAC wins on the road.

Last chance to see BG at home...and a chance to finish strong and head to Cleveland looking to shock the world.

BG MBB....onto Cleveland.

 Well, you have a team picked to finish 8th....with a shot at 5th or 6th.  It has been a good season.  A ways to go, and more needed in future years, but this was a a good start.  After two years not even in the top 8, the Falcons will play for the title in Cleveland.

The game with WMU was entertaining.  There were 8 ties and it remained close most of the way, even though BG did not trail in the 2nd half.  It was tied once.

With 5:35 left, BG led by 6.  WMU rallied and had it down to 1 with 2:36 to play.  The game remains afoot.  BG ran the clock down and then Jason Spurgin drained a 3FG to put BG up 4. The hated Lobsinger bricked a jumper (schadenfreude) and BG came down, missed a shot, but Agee had the glass, which he followed up with a basket and a foul, which he converted.  BG up 7 with 1:11 to play, and the game was over.

That's what games come down to.  And BG's bigs made the plays that were needed to secure a nice road victory.

BG had 1.11 points per possession, which has been a winning number--if rare--over the last few games.  They held WMU to .99.

To start with, BG outshot WMU.  That's usually led to a win, which it should.  Neither team shot great.  BG was 54% and 29% and WMU was 51% and 29%.  BG tried BG tried 28% of their shots from 3FG, a typical number for them. When they beat WMU the first time, BG got outshot. 

BG also led on turnovers, kept a board-crashing WMU team off the boards, got offensive boards themselves and made 12 of 16 at the line, for +3.

Rashaun Agee had another big game.  He had 17 on 6 of 11 shooting, 5 of 6 at the line, 15 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers.  If that might be something that is of interest to you

Spurgin, who Coach says is healthy for the first time in weeks, had 16 on 5 of 7 shooting and 2 of 5 3FG shooting.  With 5 rebounds a 3 turnovers.  He was running the floor and making shots like he was earlier, and did it in 28 minutes.

Marcus Hill only had 13, but it was on 6 of 10 and 0 of 1 shooting.  He appeared to press the issue less.  That's not a lot of points, but an efficient night.  Also, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers. Trey Thomas had 10 on 10 shots and 6-6 at the line.  Greer had 15 in 12 minutes, making 2 of 4 from the field and 1 of 2 from 3FG.

The last game is at home against Ball State, which can still make the tournament with a win. BG will play CMU or OU....CMU would be interesting given the OT games we played previously.  Anyway, a good year and more to go.

The Football Schedule is Out!

 Finally!

First, you are going to want to watch this....pretty funny....

𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 🗓️ 🅳🅴🆃ⓐⓘ🅻🆂 ⬇️#ToTheMoon 🟠🟤 pic.twitter.com/1JCtLSe7S6

— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) March 5, 2024

Here's another ChatGPT prompt for Scott

Write a plan to hold a 28-10 halftime lead against your rival.

 I kid.  I kid.

So here it is.  This is a much different picture than last year.

Let's start.  First, we have a bye week between our P4 games, and we follow the second one with a home G5 game.  Much better than what we had last year.

Toledo--while away--is on Saturday, as it should be and will be two of every four years.

Out non-pod games worked out OK...we keep Kent and Akron and add Ball State (who we beat last year) and WMU, who we beat last year in Kzo0.  There's @CMU as well.  

If we are playing like we hope, the key games will be on 10/12 and 10/26 in our pod.  I have no idea how good the other teams are, but we don't face OU, a top MAC team last year and usually a good team.

Here are the number of P4 games played by MAC teams.

• Akron 3
• BSU 2
• BG 2
• UB 1
• CMU 1
• EMU 1
• Kent 3
• Miami 3
• NIU 2
• OU 2
• UT 1
• WM 2

Anyway, there it is.  Plan your life now.  Love to see us make a run this year...we have a lot of guys who are finishing their eligibility....and this schedule seems a little more workable.

Rematch: MBB vs. WMU.

Two games left.

A win or Ball State loss, and BG is going to Cleveland after 2 years away.  It could happen with two losses...but not under all circumstances. They can also finish 5th or 6th, which would place them against CMU or OU (probably) as opposed to UT or Akron.

WMU has had a weird season.  Picked to finish near the bottom of the MAC (10th), they burst out to a 4-0 start in the MAC.  They were 4-1 when they played BG and the game looked like an important battle in the top of the standings.  Both teams have found some reality since then.  BG won the game.  WMU at one point lost 5 straight games in the MAC.  They have rebounded and won 3 of 4, beating Miami and UB in Kzoo, lost @EMU and then won @BSU in the most improbable fashion.

You have undoubtedly heard.

Both teams are 8-8 and tied for the last playoff spot (also including Kent).

WMU is 5-2 at home in MAC play.  BG has won 3 of the last 5 in Kzoo, but there have some pretty rough years for the Broncos.

This is a kind of typical BG win.  BG was outshot, as WMU made 53% from 3FG and BG actually made 37%,  BG won the turnover battle, had an incredible game on the offensive boards and made 23 of 27 at the line.

BG led by 16 in the second half.  WMU rallied and BG had a 1-point lead inside of 2 minutes.  BG got a basket and then three stops in the last minute and BG hung on to get the win.

Overall, WMU is #8 in the MAC in offensive efficiency. They are average at shooting and getting to the free throw line....they are #1 in offensive rebounding and #12 in turnovers.  As you can see above, those trends played out in the first game.  They are the worst FT shooting team in the conference.

They are 4th in defensive efficiency.  That's #4 defending the 2FG and 3FG. They don't force turnovers and give up free throws, but are #4 on the defensive boards.

Owen Lobsinger (I did not make that up, though it sounds like the name you give your Mom when you don't want her to know who you were really out with) had 25 on 7 of 7 from 3FG. He has made 20 in the 11 games that followed.

Marcus Hill had 28, although it took 26 shots.

WMU has a transfer C, a 7'0" who does not start and usually plays less than 20 minutes.  He's a force when out there.

So here we go.  On the road, this is a tough matchup.  Hopefully, the Falcons break out of their slump and don't leave it all to the final game.

So, on paper this would appear to be a tough matchup, as a scoring challenged team against one of the better defensive teams.

Some football updates

 Just a few things from football...no the schedules are not out yet but people are waiting impatiently.  Should be any time.

Spring practice is underway.  BG has a lot of injuries.  This includes Conner Bazelak, who has surgery in January, and Orth, neither of whom will be ready until June.  Coach has them in intensive, Loeffler-led film study.  Better them than me.

Meanwhile, Lucian Anderson will get the reps for spring and Loeffler has advised him to practice like he is the guy.  This isn't bad...Anderson is in line to compete for the top job next year, along with anyone else who might arrive by them.  BG is offering QBs all over the place and there's always the portal.  But this is a chance for Anderson to position himself for that role. He is a redshirt FR this season.

Running backs are also thin.  We expect Stewart back by camp, but the role Keith played is open.  No help was found in the portal but Coach hinted that there could be a player or players in the freshman class who get snaps this year.

Diego Neri is in the portal. He was Academic All-MAC and played in all the games last year, mostly on special teams.  I suspect he got to spring practice, wasn't where he hoped to be on the charts and wants to look elsewhere.  Wish him nothing but the best.

One factor might be that BG has moved Trent Simms to LB.

This is a pretty big season.  BG has gone from awful to decent.  Last year, we lost to the better teams in the MAC and ran wild through an extremely weak part of the schedule.  We were better.  But we need to go from decent to contending for the title, which is just as hard if not harder.

Hopefully, the schedule is slightly more favorable--though it will remain challenging so long as we have to go to two P5 games like Penn State and Texas A&M.  There will be a conference game in the week between those two games, so we can hope it won't be against a top team.  Our G5 game is at home and not against a team likely to go undefeated.

I think continuity was the way to go.  I am not convinced that we will break the 5-3 MAC ceiling...but it would certainly be great to see it happen.

Falcons Lose at OU

BG played a more representative game on Friday night, but ultimately OU made a couple shots down the stretch and BG couldn't respond and that was that.  OU has only lost once at home in MAC play.

While probably not the highest exhibition of the Art of Basketball, it was a competitive and entertaining game.  Neither team led by more than 7, there were 11 lead changes and 7 ties.  OU lead for 21 minutes, BG for 8.  Presumably 11 minutes tied.

The game was also tied at the half.  OU led most of the way in the 2nd half.  BG had the game tied, though, with 8 minutes left, and with about 3 minutes left was down 4 and got a huge break when Boals got T'd up.  Thomas and Agee hit 4 FTs to tie the game. 

Sadly, BG would score only 2 points in the game's last 3 minutes.

After the FTs, BG needed a stop to harness some momentum.  Instead, Hunter came down, after being ice cold all night, and dropped a 3FG.  BG failed on two possessions, OU one, and the Bobcats had the ball back and Clayton drained a 3FG with :30 left and that was the game.

BG shot better than they have recently.  They didn't shoot well, but they shot better.  Only 24% from 3FG, 46% on 2FG and 27% on 3FG.  BG was 16 of 29 in the paint. The problem was that BG turned the ball over at a historic rate. That turnover rate is about the 10th worst since 1999, and the worst since VCU in 2018, and that's a team that is known for turnovers.  BG had a big game on the offensive boards--though it didn't seem to contribute to baskets--and BG got to the line and made 18 out of 20, which kept them in the game.

Overall, .93 points per possession, a rough night, and a losing number. 

BG's defense was decent, holding OU to 1.04 points per possession, well below their season average of 1.14.  Their shooting was also well below their normal average and they had more turnovers than normal.  OU did have their 3rd best MAC game on the offensive boards.  And they also shot FTs well and ended up only -4 to BG.

Agee continues an outstanding season.  Agee had 17 on 6 of 8 shooting, 11 rebounds, 5 of 6 at the line and 4 turnovers. (Fun fact, in the last 10 games Agee has tried only 3 3FGs). 

Thomas had 15 on 1 of 3 from 2FG and 2 of 3 from 3FG, 7 of 8 at the line and 3 turnovers.

Hill had 12 on 5 of 12 and 0 of 1 shooting, only 2 of 2 at the line, and 6 turnovers and 3 steals.

So, BG is 8-8 in MAC play and @WMU on Tuesday.  It would be nice not to play Ball State in the final with a trip to Cleveland in the balance.